


In Lieu of Celebrating

by shadowtraveled (meteorfest)



Series: Shadows on the Water [9]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, Slash, brief implication of past!percabeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-19
Updated: 2013-08-19
Packaged: 2017-12-24 01:33:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/933565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meteorfest/pseuds/shadowtraveled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy Jackson doesn't really celebrate his birthday anymore. Nico di Angelo comes over anyways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Lieu of Celebrating

**Author's Note:**

> Written for tumblr user neeksdiangelo and Percy Jackson's shared birthday.

Percy hadn’t planned to do anything on his birthday. His birthday had become less and less a cause of celebration in the past couple of years; after Luke’s death on his sixteenth birthday and the loss of one of his close friends so close to his seventeenth, Percy hadn’t felt much like celebrating. He was still recovering from his time in Tartarus, as well, and the nightmares that haunted him from his time there made him feel less like celebrating.

He made no plans to invite friends over. His mother, wonderful, perfect Sally Jackson-Blofis, agreed to no party, but did insist on having a nice dinner with her son for his birthday. There would be presents, but it was generally understood that Percy didn’t want to make his birthday a big deal. He just wanted to spend the day alone, in his room, playing video games to pass the time.

So when Nico came over, without invitation or any sort of announcement, Percy wasn’t sure if he was grateful for the company or if he wanted to tell Nico to get lost. On the one hand, if there was anyone he wanted to hang out with on his birthday, it was Nico. The son of Hades understood, more than anyone else, that Percy didn’t really want to celebrate his birthday; Nico had told him once that he’d stopped celebrating his own birthday after Bianca’s death.

So Percy let Nico in. He heated up a bag of popcorn and led Nico into his room, where the two of them sat on the bed and grabbed controllers, playing one of Percy’s select few video games. There wasn’t much conversation, with Percy not in a talkative mood and Nico being less than social himself. They did talk a bit about how everyone was recovering from the end of the war - Hazel was slowly recovering from the loss of Frank, who’d sacrificed himself to close the Doors of Death; Piper and Jason were organizing peace talks with Reyna and her new co-praetor; Annabeth had broken up with Percy, unable to be around him without her own nightmares becoming worse, and gone to stay in New Rome to learn all she could about the Romans; Leo stayed at Camp Half-Blood to restore the Argo II after its long journey during the quest.

All in all, it was mostly as Percy had planned his birthday to go; quiet, playing video games for most of the day. Nico’s presence, unplanned as it was, was comforting and by the end of the day, the two of them had wound up close, Nico sprawled on the bed, with Percy’s head in his lap as they played their game. It was, if Percy was going to be honest, the best way to spend his birthday.

And, if he was going to be _really_ honest, there was just one way to make it even better.

Pausing the game, Percy looked up at Nico, reaching up with one arm to pull the younger demigod down a bit as he pulled himself up, and caught Nico’s lips in a gentle kiss. He could feel Nico tense up a little, surprised by the kiss, and he was going to break it and apologize, but Nico shifted slightly and, almost hesitantly, started to return the kiss.

It wasn’t the passionate first kiss the Aphrodite kids always gushed about. It wasn’t the desperate kiss of a long-time crush _finally_ being realized. It was just a light, honest kiss, the kind that felt right - a silent confession between both of them. And when it broke, there was no sudden flood of feelings, no rush of explanation, just a small smile from Percy and a nod of understanding from Nico.

No words were really needed. That one kiss was really all that was needed.

Nico broke the silence anyways.

"That counts as your birthday present, Percy."


End file.
